A mm-wave power divider is used for splitting power equally between two signal branches. The desired mm-wave power divider should split power equally, and has broadband response and low insertion loss. However, the problem is to obtain ultra-broadband response, low loss and with small physical real estate.
The conventional approach uses a Wilkinson power divider that uses quarter-wave transmission lines to impedance match the output branches to the input, and a discrete resistor placed across the output ports to provide isolation between output ports. Since the physical length of the transmission lines must be a quarter wavelength long, the design only functions over a narrow bandwidth. The bandwidth can be extended using multiple stages of quarter wave transformers, known as stepped impedance match.
However, it may be difficult to implement this design to very large bandwidths. Thus, an alternative approach may be beneficial.